CHAPTER VIII
PALERMO AND THE SICILIANS—EVENTS AT NAPLES—DEATH OF LADY KNIGHT—THE HAMILTONS AND LORD NELSON—EXECUTION OF CARACCIOLI—ARRIVAL OF SIR ARTHUR PAGET—DEPARTURE FOR MALTA.
At last we got fairly off, and, after a voyage of thirty hours, arrived in sight of Palermo. Accustomed as I had been to the lovely and magnificent scenery of Italy, I was not less surprised than delighted with the picturesque beauty of the Sicilian coast. Then, when the prospect of the city opened upon us, with the regal elegance of its marble palaces, and the fanciful singularity of its remaining specimens of Saracenic architecture, it was like a fairy scene, and would have charmed me beyond measure had not my poor mother fallen seriously ill in consequence of her long exposure in the boat on the night we left Naples.
On our arrival we heard sad accounts of Lord Nelson’s voyage. Exposed to all the fury of the storm which we had escaped, the flag-ship had been in the greatest danger, and had suffered considerably in her masts and rigging. Prince Albert, the king’s youngest son, had died of sea-sickness, and his funeral was the first welcome which this noble island could give to the royal personages who now took refuge on its shores.
It was, I think, on the 1st of January, 1799, that we landed, and went to the only hotel then in Palermo, the same that is mentioned by Brydone[[72]] in his Travels, and being shown into the only tolerable room, if such it might be called, we observed the portrait of the mistress of the house in the costume which he describes.
We were, in all, about two thousand persons who left Naples at that time. The French entered the city about a fortnight after the king’s departure, and took possession of the castles, but they seldom ventured into the streets except in large parties, as the lazzaroni were greatly irritated against them. The environs, too, swarmed with armed peasants, under the command of Cardinal Ruffo, a man of singular ability and decision of character, and endowed with every advantage of mind and body that is sought for in a military leader. Though a cardinal, he had never taken holy orders, and, previous to his elevation to the purple, had been treasurer to the Pope.
It was some time before I could remove my mother from the miserable hotel in which we were lodged, and opposite to which was the principal gaol of the town. As the street was narrow we could hear the groans and lamentations of the wretched creatures all through the night. One of the prisoners, however, used to stand at his grated window with his guitar, on which he played exceedingly well.
At length we took apartments on the Marino, a magnificent promenade of considerable length. It consisted of a row of good houses, some of them really handsome buildings, a wide road for carriages, and along the sea-shore a terrace for foot passengers, with statues of the kings of Sicily at regular intervals. The Marino led to a beautiful garden named the Flora Reale, for in Sicily all gardens are called Flora, and in the summer-time bands of music used to play there for the entertainment of the company. The garden belonged to the king, and near it was a very pretty villa, which Sir William Hamilton occupied until he moved to a larger one near the Mole.
The Sicilians appeared to me to be an active and intelligent people. It was wonderful to see the improvements and resources which started up in Palermo after the arrival of so many strangers. It seemed as if the inhabitants wanted nothing but encouragement for their industry. There was something in the shape and colour of their eyes, in the regularity of their features, and in the expressiveness of their countenances, that indicated their Grecian origin, while the curious vestiges of Moorish architecture, and many other reminiscences of that nation, added to the interest which they inspired. Traces of the Norman conquest, too, were observable in the fair complexions and light hair which, so rare in Southern Italy, were here by no means uncommon.